A Soul is Broken
by Twilight-freakie-geek
Summary: Finally pulled out of an attempt at editing. Set four or five years aft CoC. A HostxUC crossover. Gregor has been missing from a human settlement, leaving behind Boots and their new ally. But don't let that drive you out! Please R&R.
1. Prolouge

A Soul is Broken

**A Soul is Broken.**

**Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Suzanne Collin's ****The Underland Chronicles**** or Stephanie Meyer's ****The Host****, they are strictly theirs and I only own any characters you haven't heard of before.**

**Prologue:**

**Ali**

"Do you have to leave?" I asked hesitantly as Maggie gripped tightly to my knees. The child couldn't have been more than five or six. "What if you get caught, Greg?"

The sixteen-year-old chuckled and ruffled my hair. "That isn't very likely, Ali. Just take care of Maggie for me and I'll be back two, three weeks tops." I rolled my eyes. "Hey, listen, we're almost out of food and water. We're one of the only hopes for humanity now."

Scoffing, I lifted Maggie off the ground in one fluid movement and carried her over to her bed. To which she cried out, "I want to go with Gregor! I'm old enough to go!"

"I need you here, Mags, I don't want to risk loosing you, or Greg," I said pointedly, casting a look at Gregor. "Seekers thrive on kids like you." I swept some of her sticky brown bangs out of her eyes. I waited as her eyes drifted shut and her chest rose and fell evenly before turning on him. "Don't put ideas into her head like that! She's a _kid_, Greg! Not a fifteen-year-old"—I struggled to find words in my confusion—"Whatever, the thing is, we can't risk one of the last humans on earth to parasites that have taken away everything you or I have loved!" my voice was nearing a shout.

"Ali, settle down, you're going to wake the kid," he started. "And they haven't taken everything. There are more humans alive than you know." He said with a wink before grabbing his pack and jogging out the long-doorless doorframe.

I huffed and sunk down to the floor, eyes closing before tears slipped silently down my cheeks. I was tired of being lied to from Gregor, since he had pulled me to his settlement I had been told of more humans than I had known. He had never told me where they were though.

I was fifteen years of age and hiding from aliens that were taking over by inserting one of their kind into one of our heads. I had already lost my entire family to them, and I feared I had just lost Gregor. I hadn't even said goodbye.


	2. Voices

Death

**Voices**

**Cloud Weaver**

I was named on my last planet for the silks I spun. Soft as the clouds there. But on this new, strange planet, I was to be called Gregor. The body had seen sixteen years…and his memories were terrifying.

Though I had been warned my first memory was going to be his last, I was unsettled by it.

_Run._

_It was a decent enough idea at the time. No chance at being caught if I was already gone._

_But if I was caught…what would Ali do when she found out? How would Maggie handle it? Ali would probably cry, and not stop until she couldn't form the salty tears anymore. Maggie was still trying to grasp the concept of death…hopefully she'd be okay. But my thoughts kept straying to the enraged look on Ali's face before I had left. _

_She had even asked me what to do if this had happened. I had been an idiot. Now I _had _to get away. I had to warn them, get to Ali and Maggie, and keep them all safe._

Ali? Was that the woman he loved? Was she still human, too? And who was Maggie? I tried to pull myself from the memory with no success.

_My feet slapped against the wet ground of the abandoned laundry room of the old apartment building. It was so familiar—wait—I had lived here! This was my old apartment building…that meant I could get down there and tell them what was going on!_

_  
"We don't want to hurt you!" The one who had taken Lizzie's body called out. I growled and ran a bit faster._

_I searched frantically for the last drier…or was it the washer? It had been so long since I had been here! _

_Another cried out "Stop! You are only damaging yourself! There is no where to run!"_

'Don't stop!_' I thought frantically and hope for the long-dormant rager sensation to kick in. Nothing happened as the footsteps drew nearer. Lizzie seemed to hold herself back, as if the girl was still there, fighting and taking control. The control only lasted a moment before the soul grabbed my arms while another came closer with a cloth in hand. _

_I struggle violently, groaning and growling at the parasites. "Get away!" I shouted, aiming a kick at the one with the cloth as he pressed it over my face. Struggling even harder, it caused me to take a deep breath in. '_No! I failed! Ali, Maggie, Luxa, all of them, they're going to be alone! We're doomed._' I thought as my vision clouded and my muscles went slack.  
_

When would the sedation wear off? The memory was madness. How could a human be so insane as to look for a drier?

"…I think, poor soul must be as lost as Carves Cities was when she caught." A high, feminine voice registered.

"He tried to escape in a laundry room, Traveler From The Stars, of course Cloud Weaver is confused," the new voice was huskier and lower, male.

I let out a moan to inform them of my presence. I slowly opened my eyes and blinked once or twice.

"He's coming around," the female said excitedly. My eyes darted to her.

I guessed that she was a Seeker from her clothes and the way she carried herself. Her hair was curled in tight ebony spirals that were pushed back behind both of the strange ears humans sported. Her eyes were an electrifying blue with the faint silver ring around the iris that would reflect if light was directly on it. She was apparently short, from her footwear, high-heeled shoes that lifted her up about another three inches.

The Seeker wore light colors, her blouse was a faded pink, which stood out from her sun-tanned skin. Below that was a khaki skirt that cut off at her knees, below that she wore tights down to the strap heels that were a light gold.

A man stood beside her, clad in the blue-green scrubs my memory informed me that doctors wore. He let out a cough and cast an anxious look at the Seeker. The Healer was naturally tall and well muscled. His hair was crew cut and sandy blond. His eyes were a musty gray, almost the color of…of…what?

_Storm clouds._ My own voice supplied in my head. _They look the same color as storm clouds._

The thought was not mine. It couldn't have been my thought I didn't have a clue what storm clouds were before. Could it have been Gregor's?

_No, _I thought, _I'm Gregor. He is dead, and he isn't real._

_Why am I still here, then?_ My voice replied again. _I'm not going to leave like all the others. Not as long as they're human, not as long as they know I'm not there._

I struggled to find out who "they" were and where they were, but I hit a wall, only catching a small voice cooing, "Beeg bug" happily.

"How are you feeling?" the Healer said kindly.

I looked down at my arms, they were covered in scars, all rough or clean cut in some way. It was if the Seekers had dragged my body across a field of glass by my legs.

_You're wrong to think this body yours._

_Get out of my head! You're not real, you will fade away, you will give up! _I thought angrily.

"I am…confused. What are these scars?" I asked, voice smooth and wary.

"We believe this host had them previously and for quite a while, perhaps it had sustained them in childhood." The Seeker said curtly.

"Yes," The Healer's eyebrows raised. "It won't be a problem, not to worry." He said, softening to a smile.

It however didn't soften me. The voice in my head was certainly not normal. I would have to keep it secret as long as I could. Until it left, until it gave up.

_Never._ Gregor hissed, determined to stay until _I_ was the one to give up and left. I had a horrible feeling that it would be a while and I would not enjoy myself.


	3. Dreams and Discoveries

Chapter Two

**Dreams and Discoveries**

**Ali**

I sighed as Maggie shivered and curled closer to my body.

Gregor had been gone for much longer than the three weeks that he said he'd be gone. I had been forced to go on my own raid with Maggie the week before and had nearly been caught.

And if that wasn't enough, we had to leave our apartment refuge and were hiding out somewhere else because Seekers had found it.

Maggie shivered again. I frowned and pulled off my Chicago Cubs sweatshirt carefully and slowly to keep from waking the child. I then pulled it over her head and gently pulled her arms through the sleeves. The wind was an unwelcome shock to my previously warm body and I tensed to keep from shivering.

"Ali?" the small voice chirped quietly and sleepily from beside me. "Are you awake?"

I sigh and brush her bangs away from her eyes. They were so innocent; the wide brown orbs…the human eyes that I knew had seen more than they ever should have. The stared groggily back at me under the fringe of eyelashes. "Hey, Mags." I whispered, "Did you sleep okay? Are you still cold?"

"I'm okay, I had another one of those dreams again."

I smiled. "The one where you're surrounded by giant cockroaches?" She had told me of that particular dream before. I didn't find it strange, she was a little kid and children usually had those types of dreams or dreams that involved giant mounds of cotton candy.

"No, not this time," Maggie yawned. "Another type of dream…it took place in the same place, though…a nightmare, almost."

The smile was wiped off my face. I sat up and crossed my legs, pulling Maggie onto my lap. "What was it about, baby?" I said, sounding like my mother.

"Well…I was riding on a giant bat," she started.

"Ah, now I see why you said it was one of those dreams…the giant animals."

"Shush! Let me tell you!" Maggie protested. "I was riding on a giant bat, and then there were these giant…things….like, like…You know the Loch Ness monster? Well, they were sorta' like that. And they were attacking the group I was in, we were all on bats, you see. Gregor said something…and then I fell off." I gasped and hugged the child tightly, though she pushed the arms off her and continued. "And then someone else caught me on her bat! It was a golden bat, I think…and the girl who caught me was a queen!"

"A queen?"

"Yes. She flew into a hole in the wall and…and…I think that's when I woke up."

I frowned. "You have weird dreams, Maggie." I shook my head and stood up, carrying Maggie up with me. "We should get going. It's going to be daytime soon." I said as I checked my watch, four o' clock in the morning. Sighing, I took off at a slow jog though the usually crowded paths of Central Park onto the grass, towards a hill I remembered sledding on when I was younger.

That was when I had first seen Gregor and Maggie, at that time, she was Boots, they had been sledding too, and I had been sledding with my older sister, Lydia.

It was wrong to think of the old days, it made me cry most of the time. But for Maggie's sake, and my own, I bit down hard on my lower lip to keep from crying.

"What if Gregor just got back to our old place?" Maggie said quietly as I paused to catch my breath.

"I…don't think…he's coming back," I huffed, salty tears pricking at my eyes. "He's been gone to long."

"I know," Maggie squeaked in a cracked voice. I nodded and hugged her tightly. "I just don't want to believe that he's not around to see."

"See what?"

"How far we got without needing him to protect us," she said as tears slipped down her cheeks. "So that he could see he didn't have to worry about us."

"Oh, baby, don't cry," I said soothingly, trying very hard not to cry. "We'll make it through this, I promise. And besides, Gregor's a strong guy, he'll probably fight back…he won't let those parasites take him over!" by this time my voice had also cracked and I had started jogging again.

But it wasn't long before my foot caught on a large rock and I fell forward, twisting around so Maggie didn't get hurt too badly. I groaned as my back hit the ground forcefully. "What in the world…?"

"Temp," Maggie whispered, "Luxa, Howard, Dulcet, Hazard, all of them, they can't have gotten them…"

"Maggie, those people aren't real! They're just from your dreams, imaginary friends," I shook my head and let go of her. She jumped up and ran to the rock.

"Someone must've already come up or gone down," she whispered again. "It's open."

"What's open?" I asked, feeling like I was hearing one of Gregor's stories again.

"I'll show you! We'll be safe, too!" Maggie clapped her hands and lowered herself into the hole left by the rock.

"Maggie, no!" I cried, scrambling after her and down into the hole, down a set of stone steps, into a tunnel. "Maggie?" My eyes were trained on the ground. As I raised my gaze, my eyes met those of what seemed like the eyes of a giant rat.


	4. The Rat

I swore loudly and scrambled back from the giant rat, heart pulsing like I was running a marathon. "Maggie! Hurry, get away from that!"

But Maggie didn't budge from the rat's side. I grabbed the small knife—I had started to keep one with me—from my pocket. "What did you do to her?" I demanded of the rat, shaking in the cold and in my own fear.

A long pink tail whipped out and struck my hand. I gasped and dropped the small weapon, which landed with a clattering noise to the floor. Then the rat spoke.

"Don't try to be brave, kid. And close up the way you came, for Sandwich's sake!"

Maggie smiled and clung to the leg of the rat. "Maggie," I hissed, "Let go of him!"

"Listen to the girl, pup. Didn't you ever hear not to hug giant rats?"

Maggie looked up at the rat and scrunched up her face in thought. Seconds later, she whispered, "Ripred," and clung tighter, muttering, "R is for rat…r is for rat…"

I shook my head and dove for the rascal, pulling her off of the rat, whatever his name was, and holding her tight, though something caught my shoelace, causing my ankle to turn to the wrong direction. I started to let go of Maggie and set her down by the wall, soon after grabbing my ankle. "Gaul!" I rubbed the twisted ankle gingerly and looked at the rat, who know smirked.

"You got spunk, but you got too cocky too fast."

"Thanks," I spat, wishing the phrase 'if looks could kill' were true. "But I'd rather have my brain taken over by a parasite than be here right now." I lowered my eyes to my ankle.

"Certainly," the tone was sarcastic.

I glared at the back paws of the large rat. "Shut up, seriously, I'm not in the mood to be the victim of any jokes and listen to you talk to me like I'm twelve."

"Of course you don't,"

My stomach growled. I stared at my abdomen and blushed. "That would be correct," I tried to act like nothing had happened.

"And I suppose you're…fourteen then."

"What are you talking about? I'm fifteen and can take care of Boots and myself just fine!" I got to my—uh—foot and tried to keep my balance, letting slip the old nickname. "Come on, Maggie, we have to go, the sun's going to be up soon," I searched for where the source of light had come from for the entire confrontation of the rat. Torches, great, primitive…old fashioned…human. I gasped and stared at it.

"_So, you say that the secret human settlement lives like people did in the old days? Before any technology that we have today like iPods or T.V.s?"_

_Gregor nodded. "Yeah. It keeps them from being detected by Seekers."_

_I rolled my eyes, "As if. You won't tell me where they are, how can I trust you that it even exists?"_

_The boy laughed. "Let's just say, if you ever start to get them, you'll see old torches."_

_I ground my teeth, "You're way to cryptic for this timeframe. Just spit it out and take us there!"_

"_When I can trust you, I will,"_

"_So you don't trust me?"_

"_Only a bit," he laughed and turned off the flashlight lighting my part of the room._

The laughter reverberated in my ears and I could feel wet drop down my cheeks, my head started to spin with the information that had just clicked in my head. We were getting close, so close to being safe...so far from Gregor…so close to being able to get help to possibly save him! My vision started to blur.

"Are you going to leave or not? Get a move on, either way."

That final sentence I could handle, my knees buckled and I tumbled to the ground, blacking out in a whirlwind of thoughts, memories, and indecisions.

**A/N: Okay. This is the first story being pulled back out of my 'tin kitchen' as it were. I couldn't find much to do with the previous chapters. So the help of reading the series over again got me back on track. Please clicky that little button to review and then review me! I need all the help I can get.**


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